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Jan 6, 2016

Top Dog | Topfoil Mitsubishi Evo

When a person lives long enough, they are bound to hear so many stories about many things. But sometimes a person doesn’t have to live that long if he hears the same stories from a senior. Well in Kuala Lumpur, we have a fair share of stories that would be told endlessly for years. Just like many places around the world, our very own car seen is also has its fair share. Some concerning the old Batu Tiga Raceway, sometimes it would be about those high speed street races on the infamous Federal Highway. Not to mention those insane chases we always hear about coming from the slopes of Genting Highlands.

Sometime a few years back, I was told about this one person who some people will refer him as arguably the fastest on Genting Highlands. For my understanding, I’m not too sure how true that claim would be. On top of that, just like other times, I am somewhat of a sceptic when it comes to claims like this. So that’s when I was told to search on YouTube for ‘Topfoil Evo Genting’. So when I got the chance to search for it, I could not believe what I was watching. There were some points where I thought the video was fast-forwarded. But it wasn’t, it was all in real time.

Fast forward to the end of 2015, I met up with a friend at the Sepang Circuit during the Sepang 12 Hour endurance race. Somehow, the name Topfoil Evo resurfaced as we were chatting. Apparently, I didn’t forget about it. So since I was curious about the car, I started asking my friend about the Evo. Luckily, my friend was nice enough to help me get in touch with the owner.

Eventually, my search led me to a very congested area in Petaling Jaya. I drove slowly through a small side street lined with shophouses. But once I got to the very end of the street, there it was. The black CT9A with the iconic Topfoil livery that I only saw on YouTube is sitting quietly right in front of me. I took a quick look around and I realized it looked bone stock. That’s when I started to ask myself if this was worth the trip.

That’s when Ah Soon, the owner of this car came out. So I took time to sit down with him for a drink. That’s when I started to ask Ah Soon more about himself and the car. Ah Soon have been racing cars for well over 20 years now. Back in 1992, he was running the original Mitsubishi Evo CD9A. Throughout those years, he’s been in and out of many four wheel drive platforms. The most recent one prior to his current car was a Nissan Skyline R34 GTR.

The downside that he felt about his old R34 was he felt that the car was far too heavy and the handling wasn’t as sharp as he hoped for. So Ah Soon was thinking to find himself another Evo. Coincidently in 2009, Ah Soon had a good friend that asked him to buy off his Evo CT9A. Unlike most Evos in Malaysia, this Evo was imported brand new from Japan in 2005. But during its 4 years with the previous owner, it only clocked 7000km on the odometer.

At last, Ah Soon bought the Evo at a very good price. Knowing how seldom the car has been driven, he decided to but the Evo in good use. Not only it is Ah Soon’s daily driver, but it also became the mountain road weapon that it is known today. It was this Evo that got the kind of handling characteristics that he was looking for. Before he knew it, he was driving up the mountains every weekend.

When it comes to tuning, Ah Soon likes to keep things simple and only gets parts that he needs. On top of that, he wanted something that still had comforts yet capable to be fast. But he also doesn’t want the Evo to be too strong of a presence. Thus, explains the stock appearance both inside and out.

When Ah Soon was progressing with the Evo’s engine tuning, he got himself a combination of parts ranging from the HKS GT2 series turbine to the Manley 2.3L stroker kit flown direct from the US. Just after the engine was put together, he was able to make 58kg/m torque. But the only downside to this was three of his gearboxes blew. Later, he founded out the stock gearbox can only handle up to 49kg/m torque. Now the Evo is well laid out and balanced pushing around 370 bhp at 1.2 bars of boost.

Now Ah Soon is perfectly happy with how the car is running. So far, the Evo is able to withstand the abuse given during lightning fast mountain runs and reliable enough to do so on a weekly basis. If one was lucky enough, you would probably be lucky enough to spot him. Ah Soon may look like an everyday senior mechanic to some, but he is one man who is clearly addicted to the speed.